Susan Amper

Tightrope by Amanda Quick follows an unconventional woman and a man shrouded in mystery who walk a tightrope of desire as they race against a killer to find a top-secret invention. Amalie Vaughn hears the voice in her nightmares. “Fly for me Princess,” the killer said. “If you fly, I’ll let you live.” He was…

In David R. Dow’s suspenseful debut novel Confessions of an Innocent Man, restaurant owner Rafael Zhettah is wrongfully convicted of the murder of a celebrity philanthropist, but he fights—for his freedom, and to deliver justice to those who stole everything from him. David R. Dow, author of Confessions of an Innocent Man, is the founder and director…

The American Agent by Jacqueline Winspear is the 15th installment of the Maisie Dobbs series, and now Maisie must balance her dangerous new case while her own feelings of love and grief threaten to overwhelm her. Intrepid investigator Maisie Dobbs drives an ambulance during the London Blitz, investigates a sensitive case of murder, hopes to adopt an orphan,…

A Dangerous Collaboration, the fourth installment of Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell Mysteries, has everything a mystery reader could want: a spooky castle on a shadowy isle, a missing bride, and a murderer. In their fourth outing, A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn, Veronica (the semi-legitimate daughter of the Prince of Wales) and Stoker (aka the Honourable Revelstoke…

Today, January 19th, is Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday. To celebrate his would-be 210th name day, we’re taking a look back at “The Purloined Letter,” C. Auguste Dupin, and the villain who’s been right in front of our eyes this whole time. It’s what he would have wanted. You don’t hear too many people using the…

The Dead Will Tell by Linda Castillo is the sixth book in the Kate Burkholder series. “Is it safe?” Not if you live in Painters Mill, Ohio—home to 5,300 people, half of them Amish. One of the more striking aspects of this captivating series is that there seems to be more crime per square mile…

This week, PBS aired a documentary on Poe titled, Buried Alive. It should have been, Buried Anew. It was too much to hope that the film would actually set the record straight about Poe. Yet the advance write-up on the PBS website said all the right things. The film would sweep away the “misrepresentations” of Poe and…

It’s Halloween weekend, and all across America, folks are cashing in with events commemorating Edgar Allan Poe. An upscale restaurant in Denver will offer a four-course “Mask of the Red Death” dinner, to which guests are encouraged to wear “masquerade attire.” Dorchester Brewery in Boston will debut its newest ale: Lenore Beer—named, the brewery says,…

Don’t Let Go by Harlan Coben explores the big secrets and little lies that can destroy a relationship, a family, and even a town. The subtitle for Harlan Coben’s Don’t Let Go could be: “Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.” Set in a suburban New Jersey familiar to fans of Coben’s Myron Bolitar series, the tragic…

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye is a satirical romance about identity, guilt, goodness, and the nature of lies, inspired by the classic Jane Eyre. It is nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Novel. In Jane Steele, Lyndsay Faye reimagines Jane Eyre as a serial killer, and it’s a laugh-out-loud funny rendering of one of…